Perin Ruttonsha is a doctoral candidate with the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability (SERS), at the University of Waterloo, and where she has worked in collaboration with the Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation and Resilience (WISIR), as well as the Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation (WICI). Her research applies a planetary, socio-ecological systems complexity lens to synchronize opportunities for transition along sustainability and resilience pathways; trace emergent, globalized processes and patterns of change and development; and, reorganize human-environment networks for reciprocal wellbeing and prosperity. As part of this, she develops inter/transdisciplinary approaches to science, innovation, civic engagement, and transformative learning. Beginning her involvement in environmental discourse as Marketing Manager with Canada’s environmental magazine, Alternatives Journal(2004-2006), then moving into systemic design for sustainability and social innovation, as Programme Development Officer and Faculty at the Institute without Boundaries, George Brown College (2007-2009), Perin has over fifteen years of experience in her field, writing and editing for popular and academic audiences; planning experiential learning curricula; teaching at undergraduate and graduate levels; leading co-generative, multistakeholder projects; and, developing strategies for integrated, cross-scale systems transformation. Her research has been situated primarily within North, Central and South America (with select cases abroad), and has spanned topics of social housing and informal shelter, rural indigenous community resilience, neighbourhood revitalization, public greenspace and landscape management, live/work urban agricultural systems, cultural development, and population health. She also maintains a practice as an interdisciplinary and visual artist, with surrealist photographic, public installation, arts-based knowledge translation, community arts, graphic design, and creative writing work (www.perinruttonsha.com).
